Thursday, December 07, 2006

Penalties Drawn November Update

With November coming to a close it is time to examine the Thrashers penalties drawn for that month. The man-advantage minutes drawn are listed in the table below.

Who had a good month? Well Jon Sim, Jim Slater and Hossa and Kozlov again led the team is getting the favorable call from the referees in November repeating their October success. To be perfectly honest I'm rather surprised to see the same four names atop the November leaderboard. Jon Sim in particular spent some time in the recesses of the Bob Hartley's doghouse and didn't always get a ton of ice time, yet he still managed to be his usual irritating self (well at least to the opposition). Mellanby drew 6 minutes which is better than his big fat zero in October. Larsen and Vigier also had up months.

Who fell on hard times? Steve Rucchin dominates that list. In October he managed to draw 14 man-advantage minutes but fell back to zero for November.

Player

Oct

Nov

Season

Sim

16

16

32

Slater

15

16

31

Hossa

16

12

28

Kozlov

9

10

19

Holik

12

6

18

Rucchin

14

0

14

De Vries

6

6

12

Kovalchuk

6

6

12

Larsen

2

10

12

Vigier

4

8

12

Kapanen

4

6

10

Vishnevski

8

2

10

Metropolit

2

6

8

Exelby

2

4

6

Havelid

4

2

6

Mellanby

0

6

6

Sutton

2

4

6

McCarthy

2

2

4

Boulton

0

2

2

Popovic

2

0

2

Hedberg

0

2

2

Lehtonen

0

2

2

Bench

12

12

24

Unknown

12

8

20

Of course, some players draw a lot of penalties but they also take a lot of penalties as well. Take Holik for example, he drew 18 man advantage minutes but then he also was called for 26 man disadvantage minutes which makes him a net negative for the season.

Who was the most net positive for Altanta? Sim leads the way again with a positive 14 minutes with Hossa and Kozlov right behind him. Slater and Holik draw minutes but then give them back with penalties of their own.

Holik and Vishnevski also had down months. Rounding out the bottom ranks are four defensemen (Havelid, Exelby, Sutton and Vishnevski). Which is hardly surprising since the position they play requires them to haul people down if they get beat.

One thing that really surprises me is Kovalchuk's -4 minutes on the season so far. With his speed and skill he really should be drawing more minutes. I can't help but think that his diving tendencies in past years have given him a reputation among the referees and he is not getting the benefit of the doubt when he goes down.

3 Comments:

I still don't understand how slugs like Holik and Rucchin are drawing more penalties than a shifty guy like Kovalchuk. Is it hard work in the corners that leads to obstruction penalties? Is it an ability to get under opposing players' skin?

In Holik's case, I'll assume that a bunch of the penalties he is drawing are actually coincidental minors, since his net is negative.

re: Holik. Well it certainly isn't his speed. But Holik does have good size and opposing defensemen hook him if he gains body position on them.

The numbes show that 3rd line checker types really are very effective at drawing penalties--especially if you factor in ice time. Hossa gets waaay more minutes than Jon Sim or Jim Slater and yet those two draw nearly as many man advantage minutes.

BTW, I don't bother counting coincidntal penalties. Only penalty calls that give one team or the other an advantage. So offsetting minors are not counted. Neither are offsetting 5 minute fighting majors.